"Goyokin" is passionate, poetic, beautiful, colorful, thrilling, and brilliantly-filmed. It would be an understatement to say that "Goyokin" is one of the best-looking films I've seen in a long time. Hideo Gosha is one of the most under-appreciated Japanese directors and I say this purely on the strength of this one film because it is a true masterpiece.
"Goyokin" has a sense of theatricality about it that fits better than even many of Kurosawa's films. "Rashomon" for instance features performances completely unsuitable for the film's general mood (in my opinion), but in "Goyokin" the nature of the film fits perfectly with the mood and atmosphere Gosha creates. It's almost operatic in many ways, most noticeably so in the exquisitely-filmed sword fighting scenes. The story itself is also fitting of an Opera or an ancient Greek or Roman tragedy. In the tradition of many chambara films the film is reminiscent in sensibility to a revisionist Western, which can either come off as interesting or forced and in this case reminded me of some of the great American and Italian Westerns that came after the genre's popularity started dying.
Gosha's work here is spectacular. The selection of shots and his coordination with the camera operator are brilliant. The cinematography by Kozo Okazaki displays a fine and mature understanding of the mechanics of photography for film and captures the landscape of the film brilliantly. All the acting is good but Tatsuya Nakadai is truly memorable in the lead role.
I find it exceptionally hard to write extensively about movies I truly love because I find it hard to articulate my thoughts. I'm not sure I have much to say about this film since it struck me on such an emotional level and because it only matters that it is a passionate, poetic, and stunningly well-filmed movie that stands as my favorite movie in the genre quite easily and has immediately become one of my all-time favorites.
10/10
